Monday, January 23, 2017

From Constantinople to Istanbul

The Istanbul Urban Database allows you to explore a series of historical vintage maps, city plans and photos of the Turkish capital. It aims to provide an archive of Istanbul's urban history and "contribute to the collective memory of Istanbul".

At the heart of the Istanbul Urban Database is an interactive Leaflet powered map, on which you can overlay vintage maps of the city, historical city plans, vintage photographs and some of Istanbul's historical transportation networks. The vintage map options include Pervititch insurance maps (1921 - 1946) and several Ottoman era maps from the Harvard Map Collection.

The vintage map overlays come with an opacity control which allows you to compare the historical maps of the city with a modern(ish) satellite view of the city. It is also possible to compare two different maps side-by-side. This option includes a swipe control which allows you to compare and switch between your two selected maps.

The Istanbul Urban Database has plans to release an API, which will allow developers to use some of the different layers from the database in their own online projects.